It should not cost extra. Your domain should be registered in your business's name, under an account you control, and you pay the registrar directly, usually a modest yearly fee. At Heights the client owns the site and the domain, with no buyout fee if you ever leave.
Your domain name is the address every customer, review site and AI tool uses to find you. It should be registered under an account in your name or your business's name, with your own email as the contact, and you should be able to log in at any time. The registrar charges a yearly renewal fee, typically modest for a standard .com. Paying that directly is normal. Paying an agency a premium to hold it for you is not. Keep the login safe.
Ownership of the website itself works the same way. The content you paid for, the images, the pages and the design built for you should be yours to keep. Some agencies build on proprietary systems that cannot be moved, or treat the site as a rental that disappears when you cancel. Ask before you sign: if I leave, what exactly do I get, in what format, and is there a fee? A clear answer in writing saves a lot of trouble later.
At Heights Digital, the client owns the site and the domain. If you already have a domain, it stays in your account and we just point it where it needs to go. If you need a new one, we help you register it in your name. Hosting and ongoing work are part of the monthly plan, but the property is yours. Your Google Business Profile should be owned by you too, with us added as a manager rather than the other way around.
Send the site over. We will tell you what is broken, what you could rank for, and whether AI search knows you exist. No charge and no pitch deck.
